Wildlife

Black-tailed Antenna Stingrays / Zoo Basel

Zoo Basel welcomed nine rare Black-tailed Antenna Stingrays on 5 November. The small, yet sensational pups are doing well and can be seen in the zoo’s aquarium exhibit.

The Black-tailed Antenna Stingray (Plesiotrygon nana), also known as the Dwarf Antenna Ray, is a freshwater Stingray that is native to the rivers and sections of the rear Amazon Basin in Eastern Peru. The small Stingray was scientifically described for the first time in 2011. They are one of two recognized species in the family Potamotrygonidae (the other being the Long-tailed River Stingray) — via ZooBorns

Design

Stealth Building / WORKac

Unseen above the restored cast-iron façade of this 1857 residential structure in Tribeca, a stunning modern loft extends the building’s liveable space, its form responding directly to lines of sight. Designed by WORKac and known as the Stealth Building, the addition had to work with the existing façade — to preserve its appearance, rendering it invisible became the obvious approach — via Urbanist

Craft, Science

3D Periodic Table / Makendo

This instructable documents makendo’s efforts to reimagine a 3D periodic table of the elements, using modern making methods. It’s based on the structure of a chiral nanotube, and is made from a 3D printed lattice, laser cut acrylic, a lazy susan bearing, 118 sample vials and a cylindrical lamp — via Instructables

Craft, Wildlife

Octopus Amigurumi Pattern / Randy Lee

This pattern features an adorable curly tentacled octopus. It works up in about 2 or 4 hours and stands 8-9 inches tall, including tentacles. It only uses one ball of Lily Sugar ‘n Cream cotton yarn and a G hook — via Ravelry

History

Unravelling the Chimney Map / Trina Mckendrick

The continuing story of a huge 17th century map found stuffed up a chimney is told by a conservator, a map curator, a historian and an explorer. As the map is painstakingly conserved at the National Library of Scotland, it unfolds stories of exploration, battles, slavery, kingship and knowledge — via Youtube

Design

Thorn Island Fortress / Pembroke

This 19th century Thorn Island fortress near Pembroke, Pembrokeshire is an amazing space, as well as a grade II listed building, which obviously limits the scope of change.

Thorn Island dates back to between 1852 and 1854, when it was constructed from local stone as an outer defence to Milford Haven, which was then a large naval base.

If you like the idea of your own kingdom, Knight Frank has this up at £550,000 — via WowHaus

Design

The Galeries / Red Wolf

The Galeries, Glass Elevator, 201 Elizabeth Street, Mark Foy’s Building and North Apartments originally uploaded by Red Wolf

via Wikipedia:

The Foy brothers opened The Piazza in 1909 on Liverpool Street. This was a three-storey store (two floors plus basement) designed by architects Arthur McCredie & Arthur Anderson with a turreted mansard roof. The building partially modelled on the Parisian Bon Marche department store. premises in 1909; and its piazza, chandeliers, marble and sumptuous ballroom made it a Sydney institution and one of Australia’s foremost fashion stores. The store had Australia’s first escalator. The store stretched around a whole city block and gave rise to the colloquial saying, when referring to a person of overweening confidence, You’ve got more front than Mark Foy’s. The store was remodelled in 1927. The store was linked in 1926 to the newly opened Museum Railway Station by underground subway.

The City Piazza building is now used as a complex of state courthouses known as the Downing Centre. However, its former role is preserved in the ornate tilework on the facade and surroundings.

via Wikipedia:

The North Apartments, located at 91 Goulburn Street, Sydney, Australia, were designed by the late architect Harry Seidler.

Constructed between 2003-04, the building is oriented with a single façade to the North, facing Goulburn Street.

Each of the 49 apartments features a wave-shaped balcony, so as to accommodate outdoor furniture, at its widened part. The balconies are arranged in a vertically staggered pattern so as to maximise the spatial feeling. As a result, the design breaks away from the usual box-like structures associated with ‘infill’ development.

Colour is introduced into the façade by the use of integrally permanent coloured toughened glass on the balconies’ end rails and dividing screens. There are a mixture of primary and neutral coloured accents all over the façade, giving the building a lively appearance.

The apartments are designed following a split-level planning system, which results in a ceiling height of 2.85 m over the living area and 2.7 m in the raised bedrooms. These raised bedrooms have no windows, and open onto the lounge area. The building contains commercial space on the ground floor, and an indoor lap pool. The foyer of the building features a wall hanging of woven carpet, based on a wall mural in Rose Seidler House, painted by Seidler in 1950.

Design

Sydney Masonic Centre / Red Wolf

Sydney Masonic Centre, Sydney Masonic Centre Detail and Sydney Masonic Centre Stairs originally uploaded by Red Wolf

via: www.sydneyarchitecture.com/cbd/cbd4-013.htm

Joseland Gilling, 1974
Connell Mott MacDonald, 2004 (tower)

Corner of Castlereagh and Goulburn Streets, Sydney

Off form concrete facade
Civic Tower is Australia’s first building to be fully supported on a central lift core without the use of continuous perimeter columns extending down to footing levels. Constructed above Sydney’s Masonic Centre, the innovative structural design features a space frame using post tensioned tie elements and high strength concrete filled tubular steel struts to transfer the 25 story office building perimeter back onto its core.

World

How streets, roads, and avenues are different / Phil Edwards

A street is a road but a road isn’t always a street. A road can also be an avenue or a boulevard — it’s the general term for anything that connects two points. From there, the names of roads can be shaped by their environment and/or the form of the road. A drive is a long winding road that can be shaped by mountains or a lake. Place is a narrow road with no through way. And just as there is no rule book to building a city, these roads and other don’t always correspond with their described classifications — via Youtube

Wildlife

Orphaned Puma Kittens / Minnesota Zoo

The Minnesota Zoo is thrilled to welcome two orphaned puma kittens to Apple Valley. This brother-sister pair was found in late October just outside the Port Angeles, Washington area by a local resident and rescued by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife before making the journey to Minnesota. Based on the kittens’ condition, officials were confident their mother was not returning to care for them — via Youtube

Technology, Wildlife

How technology is helping homeless pets find a new home

In Australia, over 137,390 animals once called pets are received annually by the RSPCA [PDF] alone, with rescue homes and animal shelters receiving surrendered animals faster than they can re-home those already in care.

With few options other than euthanasia for those animals unable to be placed, self-taught coder John Bishop decided he needed to do something and launched Pet Rescue in 2003, an online service connecting former pets with new owners.

Working with approximately 98 percent of the rescue groups in Australia from the RSPCA to animal welfare leagues, vets, pounds, and foster carers, non-profit Pet Rescue currently has over 8,600 animals from 952 rescue groups on its website.

Essentially it’s an aggregation service but that’s not very sexy, Bishop explained. We look at ourselves as providing connections between pets in care with the rescue groups and the public that are looking to adopt.

As Pet Rescue operates at a not-for-profit, Bishop has been faced with the mammoth task of keeping up with technology since day one — via redwolf.newsvine.com